Early Chinese Religion ─ The Period of Division (220-589 Ad)

This impressive 2-volume work offers a full treatment of what has been learned from the archaeological and written record about the evolving practice of religion in post-Han and pre-Tang China. Each of the 22 chapters presents a full account of current scholarship, frequently including excerpts from the primary sources in side-by-side English translation and the original Chinese. Based on each author's research of the era's literature and archaeological record, the chapters detail religious beliefs and practices, with the chapters grouped into sections on religion and the state, religious communities, scriptures, literature, spirits, rituals, and geography, with separate discussion of Daoism and Buddhism for the topics of sacred geography, pantheons, rituals, literature, scripture, and community. Other chapters describe the history of state religious policy and ceremonies, the Confucianization of ancestral worship, and shamanism. Chapters of interest to art historians are those on the Daoist stelae and Buddhist cave temples and monasteries. The volumes include an extensive bibliography and b&w plates of monuments. The contributors are scholars of Chinese religion, history, archaeology, and literature at universities in the US, Europe, China, and Taiwan. Lagerwey teaches Daoism at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris; Pengzhi teaches Daoism at Sichuan U., China. Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

John Lagerwey, PhD (1975) in Chinese literature, Harvard University, is Professor of Daoism at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Paris) and of Chinese studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has just published China: a Religious State.Lu Pengzhi, PhD (1999) Sichuan University, is Associate Professor of Daoism at Sichuan University and visiting scholar at the Ecole francaise d'Extreme-Orient. His primary publications concern early Heavenly Master Daoism and the history of Daoist ritual.